Tickfaw State Park will reopen December 1

SPRINGFIELD - The state expects to reopen flood-damaged Tickfaw State Park by December 1st.

Starting in December, the park will be open for day use - meaning playground, rental pavilions, restrooms and the Nature Center will be available for visitors. Canoe rentals will also resume and some hiking trails will be opened. Though, repairs are still being made to many areas.

The low-lying park, about 7 miles southwest of Springfield in Livingston Parish, occasionally serves as a detention pond for rainfall that overflows the Tickfaw River's steep banks. But the August flood ran deeper and farther than any flooding the park had experienced in recent history.

Park Manager Cody Westmoreland said there were spots that held water that had never held water before.

Of the park's 1,200 acres about half of which lie west of the Tickfaw River and remain undeveloped. Westmoreland says 99.8 percent went under water during the August flood.

"We are working hard to get our parks open to full access so that our citizens and visitors can enjoy all that our state has to offer outdoors," said Lt. Governor Nungesser, whose office oversees Louisiana State Parks.